5 Guards to Watch for Philadelphia 76ers in Summer League

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Maodo Lo

Maodo Lo is a German basketball player who spent the last four seasons playing for Columbia, an Ivy League institute. Although the Ivy league schools often get a bad rap for not regularly having competitive basketball teams, there’s often a good player every few years that makes it big in the NBA.

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Lo was consistent in his three final years at Columbia, after sitting, watching and learning a lot during his freshman season. He ended up being a solid player once he got the minutes to prove himself.

Throughout his career, freshman year taken into account as well, he averaged 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists, shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.

His shooting is solid, and he needs to be able to show that in summer league.

One of the biggest things that Lo has over the other players is experience on a national level. Germany is no Team USA, but it does have two solid player that Lo has on his resume as being a teammate with — Dirk Nowitzki and Dennis Schroder.

Speaking about that with CSN Philadelphia, he said:

"“Dirk Nowitzki is a Hall of Famer. He’s one of the greatest players to ever play basketball. To be around him, you learn a lot and Dennis Schroder is a great up-and-coming talent who is a really nice guy and has helped me out a lot. We have a really good relationship and he gives me a lot of tips.”"

Dirk is a legend, and a likely Hall-of-Famer, while Schroder is one of the better up-and-coming NBA players. The fact that he’s coming into his undrafted NBA career already having played alongside them is special.

Another thing Lo has over these other summer league sleepers is his intelligence. Of course, he’s book smart, which is why he was at Columbia in the first place, but he’s also basketball smart.

Lo came in to do a pre-draft workout for the Sixers this season, and one of his 3-on-3 teammates had positive words to say about how smart he was.

"“He’s real smart. He makes pretty crisp decisions and he shoots the ball really well.”"

I would expect Lo to improve his teammates wherever he ends up in the NBA. Columbia’s offense was full of passes, sometimes seven or eight different ball touches before a shot went off, and I think Lo will be used to looking for the best possible shot on the floor when he gets a nod in the NBA.

Next: Kwame Vaughn